Business to Business Networking
Finding an event planner to partner with can cut down on hours of phone calls in cold calling and hundreds of dollars in advertising. Your booth likely sells itself, making the resources to generate a positive income stream all you need. Having a dedicated event planner at your service is literally money in the bank.
What is event planning you ask? There are various types of event planners right in your own back yard. They coordinate large social gatherings such as weddings, concerts, ceremonies, sports competitions and business conventions. Usually they are responsible for overseeing the whole process of the event including parking, transportation, reservations, and catering services. Event planners also obtain all the local permits needed for the event.
Understand Business Connections
Catering, baking, and floral services are valuable sources of information. Why? They often work for or with event planners and can give you the right contact information rather quickly. Forging a referral partnership with them is not a bad idea either.
Making Positive Contact
When first contacting a potential partner, it’s best to try and identify the person who can approve the partnership and learn the way they prefer to be contacted. It is far more likely that you will find success if you understand their preferred mode of communication.
Try and forge a relationship with a busy event planner and stay loyal to them. Don’t go around town asking every even planner to sign up with you. Remain loyal to them and provide their customers with outstanding service. Creating one powerful alliance in the event planning industry can take you far.
Set Up A Light Business Meeting
First impressions are everything in today’s world and having a face to face meeting with your potential partner is key to securing a good partnership. Once you get the owner or decision maker on the phone, have your pitch ready and begin with talking about the benefits they will receive by partnering with you.
Keep it simple and ask for a meeting. Offering to buy them lunch often works wonders.
Example: “Hi, my name is John Smith, I live here in (your town) and I’m the owner of a photo booth business. Have you ever hired a photo booth for one of your events?…”
“Great. Well, I know I can offer your clients valuable keepsakes for their event and people always crowd around these booths, so I was wondering if you had time to meet with me over lunch to discuss becoming referral partners. We can take a look at what your clients need and see if we are a good match. Lunch is on me, so what time works for you?”
Let them decide where the meeting is and when. Be ready and have a place in mind, in case they prefer you choose. A casual restaurant or a coffee shop is a great meeting place. It is a good idea to make sure you know most spots in the area too. If you are in a big city or go at a busy time, you may have to wait in line for others to finish eating and you don’t want this to happen if you can avoid it.
Offer them a cut rate if they hire you exclusively. This will strengthen the value of your proposal and build brand loyalty. Remember to stay loyal to them too. If you are asking them to only use you, they should be able to expect you to do the same.
